BRADFORD-based Yorkshire Water has seen an improvement in its rating for environmental performance.
The Environment Agency (EA) has today released its annual report on the environmental performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies.
Yorkshire Water was rated a three-star company in 2022, an increase from its two-star rating for the previous year.
It had three serious pollution incidents in 2022 compared to five in 2021, moving this metric from red to amber – an improvement but still below target. It also had 22 total pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewer, down from 27 in 2021 and better than the sector average of 31.
The company self-reported 77 per cent of incidents, below the industry average of 82 per cent but an improvement on its 2021 performance of 66 per cent.
The EA expects to see sustained improvements around reducing pollution incidents across Yorkshire and Yorkshire Water’s timeliness in reporting them.
Elsewhere, the company scored 99.7 per cent for permit compliance, delivered 100 per cent of its schemes under the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP), delivering the required 179 projects to improve the environment. It was green in the other metrics for satisfactory sludge use and disposal and water supply and demand.
Ben Roche, director of wastewater at Yorkshire Water: “Our improvement to a three-star rating in the latest EPA report from the EA is testament to work of our colleagues in the last 12 months.
“We care passionately about the environment and work hard every day to tackle pollution and the causes of it. However, we are not complacent and know there is much more we need to do.
“Our focus is on continuous improvement in the way we use technology and data to further improve the areas preventing us from reaching a four-star rating.
“The services we provide are integral to our customers’ daily lives and enjoyment of the region, and we’re committed to improving our services further to make sure our customers can continue to rely on us.”
Yorkshire Water shares a three-star rating in the report alongside Northumbrian Water and United Utilities. Severn Trent was rated the highest with four stars.
Since 2011, the Environment Agency has used the Environmental Performance Assessment (EPA) to rate each company in England from one to four-star star. The rating takes into account performance on environmental commitments such as pollution incidents and treatment work compliance. Last year an updated reporting approach was introduced, with revised metrics and tightened performance thresholds.
